Dear Freedom Scale Family,
Family. At this point, I really feel like I can use that word. Together, we’ve built something here. Yes, this is a place to discuss ideas and our mutual love of freedom. But it has also become something more.
A while back, a dear old friend jokingly chided me that discussions here were too much of a “love-fest.” On one level, I understand the objection. A lot of truth can be discovered through debate and disagreement. Conflict can sharpen the steel of our ideas.
And yet… there is already plenty of conflict out there. Social media is full of it. Governments, corporations, ideologues, activists, and creepy billionaires are all already in conflict with us.
We had more than our fill of strife during covid. With our respective governments. With big business. With a medical industry we thought we could trust. With fellows who we thought would stand up for freedom, but who cowered in fear and compliance instead. Then, there were the statistically impossible number of train derailments, fires at food-processing facilities, and shocking medical events. It seems like conflict is everywhere.
We need two things now.
First, we need a break from conflict. We need joy. We need a little fun. And, after the relationship-destruction wrought by covid, we also need some new friends. All of that is happening here. Love-fest? Yeah, kinda—and it feels good.
We also need solutions. We need some hope. We need a sense that there is a better future out there, if only we can find it. That discussion is happening here too—and, as you will see below, it’s about to get a lot louder.
I have received very nice compliments from many of you. About the way I express ideas. About the stands I have taken. And, perhaps most of all, about the time and care I take in my conversations with each one of you. I am honored by these compliments. It has truly been my very great pleasure.
But now I have a problem. Keeping this train rolling has become a full-time endeavor. In order to keep the proverbial roof over our heads (and a real one for my family), this gig has to start producing some revenue to match the time involved.
A lot of writers here on Substack put their content behind a paywall. I haven’t done much of that. Some writers even put their comments behind a paywall. I definitely don’t want to do that—I want to keep our conversations open and free, and welcome new ones every day!
I am asking for your support, so we can keep our conversations going. So I can keep doing all of this.
But this is more than just an appeal for the status quo. I am going to bring new features to the table—new adventures for Supporting Members to enjoy.
Beginning in just a few weeks, I will begin releasing installments of my massive book, which gave this place its name: The Freedom Scale.
This book began as an attempt to discredit, once and for all, the notion that fascism is “right wing,” and to build a proper political spectrum in its place. But it ended up flowering into so much more. The Freedom Scale is a sweeping exploration of the beliefs and principles that you and I share. Not only do I mount an impassioned defense of the rights of the human person…I offer proofs that our rights are natural and real. You can learn more and see praise for the book here:
Founding Members will receive a special electronic copy of the full book once all the installments have posted here and the book is formally published.
But wait—there’s more…
The insanity of the last few years—and especially the feeling that our respective countries are now intentionally acting against us—has us feeling a bit lost. The one thing that seems to be on everyone’s lips, expressed over and over in our discussions, is, “What do we do now?”
Well, how about we start our own country?
Yeah yeah, I know…but it is actually less crazy than it sounds. People across the world are making plans to do exactly this, and there have even been a few early implementations. What was once “crazy” is about to become the wave of the 21st century.
Over the last year, I have been working on my own plan. I will soon begin releasing that plan to Supporting Members as a book, with the working title of The Distributed Nation: A Plan for the Next (R)evolution in Human Liberty.
A short while ago, I mentioned that we need hope for a better future. It really is true. Sitting around swallowing black-pills all day is getting us nowhere. Someone needs to come up with a vision and a plan. Why not us?
This is going to require a lot of work. I am going to need your thoughts. And yes, I am going to need your support in order to undertake this groundbreaking work. As a Supporting Member, you can help make The Distributed Nation a reality.
Future Features
For Supporting and Founding Members…
—A book on how my son lost 150 pounds in nine months, and my wife lost 30. No special diet, no crazy exercise…I saw it with my own two eyes! I will tell you all the tips and tricks they used.
—A book on how to use a food dehydrator to preserve food, improve your health, save money, and eat super-nutritious parts of plants that everyone just throws away.
—I also have a constructed language I’ve been working on (slowly) for the last 40 years. I have long thought of it, somewhat fancifully, as the language that a free people would speak in better times. So far, no one knows it but me. Maybe I’ll teach it to you!
I plan these for down the road. However, if a lot of you express interest, I can make them happen sooner…
In recent days and weeks, I have received so much encouragement and compliments from so many of you. It really makes me think that that we are on to something good here at the Freedom Scale.
With your support, I believe we can take things to the next level. Without it…well, eventually I will have to go get a different job.
I believe I can be of greater service doing this, so I hope you will join me!
For the cost of a cup of coffee once a month, you can become a Supporting Member.
For the cost of one meal at a local diner, you can do it for the year. (A year’s subscription is also the equivalent of one to two hours wages, one time for the whole year. That’s not so much, right?)
Or, for the cost of a dinner out with a couple people, you can become a Founding Member.
I know you have a lot of different ways you can spend your money. I hope you will choose to send a little my way, to keep the Freedom Scale alive.
Hello again Christopher. I found you through Demi’s Stack at the Starfire Codes. I instantly knew I wanted to support your Stack. You have a perspective that keeps me looking at things with a fresh set of eyes. Thank you.
I’m no man of means, but I have my principles so I spend the equivalent of a decent small town restaurant dinner (that I don’t wanna go to anyway) on Substack writers a month. My favorite expenditures. Plus Demi and Jacqueline need some coffee now and then. Love all you guys. So c’mon folks. If a small town Tennessee auto mechanic who drives a 40 year old truck can pitch in, so can you. Stand for something, however you can.
Oh, the curses of getting a new computer. I'm having to sign in to everything, and passwords. Half the time I can't remember where my glasses are!
Anyway, I'm so glad I'm a subscriber. I can't do a lot of things anymore (I'm old as dirt!) but I can still read and learn, and I can fund those who are doing more. And occasionally, I have found ways to drop bread crumbs for the ostriches, and a few have picked up a few of those crumbs. We can't expect to awake the asleep all at once; they have to ease in to it just like we once did. No one everyone knows everything, and face it, our path is not one of comfort and ease. But I chose the path with eyes wide open, and fight everyday to not have total contempt for the ostriches.
I read these posts to learn and also to get that warm fuzzy feeling from family; (I'm blessed that much of my family is thoroughly awake, but we're a small group) but this extended family is bigger and they are generous enough to share their knowledge.
I look forward to the book, and hope we don't get blown away by the crazy wind assaulting us here in NC.